The present invention relates to latch mechanisms. More particularly, this invention relates to a latch mechanism for selectively securing a blower to a lid.
While the invention is particularly directed to the provision of a latch assembly which is employed to selectively attach or detach a blower from a lid secured to a bucket of a wet/dry vacuum cleaner, it should be appreciated by those of average skill in the art that the latch assembly could also be employed in a variety of other environments.
Known portable blowers have a blower housing with an impeller or fan in it that draws air into the housing and blows it through a directed outlet from the housing. Since the blower housing has an inlet, and suction necessarily develops at the inlet, the blower may be used to draw a vacuum, such as in a wet/dry vacuum cleaner, by being secured to the lid of such a cleaner.
It is known to attach a blower to the lid of a wet/dry vacuum cleaner by use of a bayonet mount. Such mounting necessitates the rotation of the blower in relation to the lid in order to secure the blower to the lid or to detach the blower from the lid. In the known type of device, the blower housing needs to be rotated by approximately 90 degrees in order to secure the blower to the lid. Such a large amount of rotation of the blower housing in relation to the lid is disadvantageous. It would be preferable not to have to rotate the blower housing at all in relation to the lid since the housing is somewhat cumbersome to rotate.
It is also known to secure a blower to the lid of a wet/dry vacuum cleaner through the use of tabs which are pivotally mounted to the lid and can be rotated to extend over a flange of the blower when it is desired to fasten the blower to the lid. In the known form of such devices, two pivotable tabs need to be rotated in order to latch the blower to the lid. This securing means is disadvantageous from two standpoints. First, two separate latching elements are necessary and each of these needs to be rotated in order to secure the blower to the lid. Second, since only two such tabs are provided, and these extend upwardly from the lid, they sometimes will be inadvertently contacted and could be rotated during use of the wet/dry vacuum cleaner thereby at least partially detaching the blower from the lid. It would be desirable to provide a single latching mechanism which only needs to be rotated a small distance in order to securely fasten a first member, such as a blower, to a second member, such as a lid.
Accordingly, it has been considered desirable to develop a new and improved latch mechanism which can be used, for example, to secure a blower to the lid of a wet/dry vacuum cleaner that would overcome the foregoing difficulties and others, and meet the above-stated needs, while providing better and more advantageous overall results.